Many transactions involving are time-sensitive. One entity may realize an advantage if a transaction issued by the entity in response to receiving time sensitive information associated with a target of the transaction is the first transaction to be executed with respect to all other transactions involving a same transaction target.
One technique for increasing the likelihood that the transaction involving the transaction target will be the first transaction involving the transaction target is to minimize the time interval between (1) a time when time-sensitive information relating to the transaction target is disseminated and (2) a time when a transaction server executes a transaction, involving the transaction target, that was issued by an entity in response to receiving the time-sensitive information relating to or otherwise associated with the transaction target. One technique for minimizing this time interval is to reduce the network latency between a computer system of an entity and the transaction processing system. For example, the computer system for the entity may be coupled to the transaction processing system via a low-latency network. In another example, the computer system for the entity may be located within the same data center that houses the transaction processing system.
Another technique for increasing the likelihood that the transaction issued by entity will be the first transaction involving the transaction target is for the entity to intercept and corrupt messages including transactions involving the transaction target that were issued by other entities. Once the messages have been corrupted, the transaction processing system or a gateway system that initial receives those messages discards the corrupted messages and accordingly, does not execute the transactions included in the discarded messages.
Unfortunately, these techniques create an inequity between entities that have the means to increase the likelihood that their transactions will be the first transaction to be executed by the transaction processing system.